- For decades, the March for Life centered on overturning Roe v. Wade — but even after its reversal, the movement says the fight to protect unborn life is far from over.
- Pro-life leaders now focus on state-level abortion laws, as many states expand abortion access while others strengthen protections for unborn children.
- The March for Life warns that abortion rates remain high and that key pro-life policies, including the Hyde Amendment, face growing political threats.
- The march has now become a national rallying point to change hearts and laws and build a “culture of life” in America.
For decades, signs, cheers, and speeches at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., focused on Roe v. Wade and called for the historic decision to be overturned. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 1973 ruling nearly four years ago, pro-lifers continue to march. They have shifted their focus to state-level legislation that still permits thousands of abortions to occur every year.
According to the March for Life website, overturning Roe was just one step in a long journey of building a culture of life in America. Even as the focus of the pro-life movement in America changes, the march — the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world, according to its website — remains a crucial reminder of the still ongoing fight to protect unborn life.
The march’s website explains that today, the number of abortions performed annually is “well over 900,000 each year,” a number that “is expected to decrease only by roughly 200,000 each year in a post-Roe America.” The website also highlighted that legislative battles over pro-life efforts across the country are looming and that tension is rising over the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which historically protects taxpayer funds from being used for abortions.
As CatholicVote previously reported, the Hyde Amendment recently came under scrutiny following President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 suggestion to House Republicans that they should be “flexible” on the amendment and be open to using it as a bargaining chip in healthcare negotiations. Though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will refuse to budge on compromising Hyde, the March for Life said the amendment can no longer “be taken for granted.”
Beyond the federal level, the U.S. has seen individual states either fighting for increased abortion access or the protection of unborn life. Several states — including Arizona, Colorado, and Missouri — passed abortion laws in 2024, adding a “right to abortion” to their state constitutions, while other states, like Florida and Nebraska, rejected abortion laws. CatholicVote previously reported that Virginia is one of the latest states to propose an initiative enshrining abortion in its constitution.
>> Virginia Catholic Bishops blast ‘extreme abortion amendment’ after General Assembly passage <<
According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 12 states have protections for unborn life throughout a mother’s entire pregnancy; two protect life up to 12 weeks; four have “heartbeat” laws; and 30 have few or no protections for unborn life. Two states, North Dakota and Utah, have nine-month protection laws in litigation.
The March for Life website states that its mission is to change hearts and minds, ultimately reversing a cultural narrative in order to “make abortion unthinkable.”
“With the role of the states being more important, we are also growing a strong state march for life initiative quickly,” the website continues, “however, we will continue to march every January at the national level until a culture of life is restored in the United States of America.”
>> Vance to deliver remarks at 2026 March for Life in Washington, DC <<
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